1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to artificial reefs, and more particularly pertains to man made barriers for placement along beaches to prevent erosion. The erosion of beaches is a substantial problem along the coasts of the United States and throughout the world. Waves which obliquely approach the beach line cause a lateral drifting or erosion of the beach known as latorial drift. This phenomena has caused the expenditure of millions of dollars in sand pumping and other beach reconstruction projects. In order to overcome this problem, and to provide an economical alternative to such reconstruction projects, the present invention provides an improved man made artificial reef to prevent beach erosion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of artificial reefs are known in the prior art. A typical example of such an artificial reef is to be found in U.S. Pat No. 1,353,001, which issued to G. Uriarte on Sept. 14, 1920. This patent discloses a plurality of adjacent blocks having spaced vertical columns and perpendicularly extending horizontal beams which form perpendicular intersecting interior passages. U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,061, which issued to A. Staempfli on Dec. 10, 1968, discloses a sea wall structure which has an inclined front face provided with a plurality of spaced steps. U.S. Pat. No. 3,548 600, which issued to J. Stolk et al. on Dec. 22, 1970, discloses a block for constructing an artificial reef which has intersecting cylindrical perpendicular passages. The blocks each have the shape of a six sided quadrangular prism. In use, the blocks are dropped at random in a heap, with the sides of different blocks facing in different directions. U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,630, which issued to J. Karnas on Nov. 5,1974, disclosed a mechanical reef characterized by step-wise arranged deflector panels having a configuration which is effective to cause vertically moving water in waves to absorb its own energy so that the waves are attenuated and the sand and other particulate material carried by the water is deposited below and in front of the reef. U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,153, which issued to J. Taylor on Feb. 12, 1980, discloses a barrier for erosion prevention formed from stacked toroidal objects such as used vehicle tires. The tires are disposed in a plurality of relatively offset layers which are held against relative displacement and are secured together.
While the above mentioned devices are suited for their intended usage, none of these devices disclose an artificial reef formed from a plurality of aligned assembled blocks which have complementary surfaces forming interior corrugated passages extending in first and second perpendicular directions. Additionally, none of the aforesaid artificial reef constructions provide a dual staircase configuration which allows convenient human access to the ocean. Inasmuch as the art is relatively crowded with respect to these various types of artificial reefs, it can be appreciated that there is a continuing need for and interest in improvements to such artificial reefs, and in this respect, the present invention addresses this need and interest.